Horse-detacher.



No. 805,998. PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905.

H. H. RVEED'.

HORSE DET-AGHER.

APPLIOATION FILED IIIB.4,1905.

Witnesses: M M Inventor,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY H. REED, OF REEDSVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA.

" HORSE-DETACHER.

To all whom; it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY H. REED, a citizen of the United States, residing at Reedsville, in' the county of Preston and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Horse-Detacher, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to horse-detachers.

The object of the invention is to improve the construction of attachments of such character and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and thoroughly-eflicient form which will in a novel manner facilitate the hitching and unhitching of a horse relatively to the vehicle and which may be readily actuated by the occupant of the vehicle to release the traces from the swingletree in case of a runaway or other accident.

With the above and other objects in view, as will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction and combination of parts of a horse-detacher, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed. 1 I

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,'and in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts, there is illustrated one form of embodisame into practical operation, it being understood that the elements therein exhibited may be varied or changed as to shape, proportion, and exact manner of assemblage without departing from the spirit thereof, and in' these drawings- Figure 1 is a view in plan of a swingletree equipped with the detacher of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective detail viewv of one form of detacher.

The traces (indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1) are detachably connected with the ends of the whifl'letree v1 by spring-actuated bolts 2,

one being located at each end of the whifiietree, the inner end of each bolt being provided with a transversely-slotted head 3, to which are connected the branches 4 of an operating-strapb, that is of a length to extend into the body of the vehicle and may pass through an opening in the dashboard provided for the purpose. While straps are herein shown as combined with the attaching devices, it is to-be understood that any other form of flexible connection may be employed and still be within the scope of the invention,

Specification of Lettersv Patent.

Application filed February 4, 1905. Serial No. 244,197.

tached.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

The branch straps pass through suitable guides 6, mounted upon the whiflietree on'the rear side thereof and preferably located at opposite sides of the center, as shown in Fig. 1. These guides may be of any desired construction, and when the operating strap or connection is drawn upon, the bolts will be moved longitudinally of the whiffletree, and thus be thrown out of engagement with the eyes of the trace-straps, whereby the latter are de- The bolt is arranged in a pair of guides 7 and 7 disposed at the terminals of a plate 8,

which is provided on one end with a pair of curved arms 8 for the reception of the end of the whifiletree and at its other end and on the same side with a curved arm 9, provided with perforations 10, through which screws or rivets 11 may be passed to secure the plate upon the whifiietree. Each arm 8 is also provided with an orifice'12 to be engaged by a bolt 13 to secure the arms to the whiffletree. As will be seen by reference to Fig. 2, the arms 8 are is adopted to enable the arms to be attached to whifiietrees of different shapes-such as circular, flat, or ellipticaland as the attachment will be made of malleable iron the arms will be drawn tightly against the whiffletree when the rivet is upset, or, if a screwbe employed in lieu of the rivet, when it is seated, thereby to cause the arms closely to impinge the whifiietree. The plate may be either malleable cast-iron or be struck up from any suitable metal and is provided at its end with an approximately L-shaped arm 14,.forming in conjunction with the end of the plate av trace-receiving recess, the arm or abutment l4. terminating approximately in alinement with the face of the guide 7 This abutment in addition to forming one wall of the trace-receiving recess also forms a stop to limit the outward movement of the bolt 2, which latter is forced into engagement with the attachment through the medium of a coiled .spring 15, one end of which bears against the guide 7 a and the other against a cross-pin 16, carried the arms to hold the attachment against Working loose or becoming disconnected from the Whifiletree. tachment upon a Whiffletree be broken or lost and it be desired to attach the present invention thereto there will be no change required in the structural arrangement of the WhifHetree owing to the arrangement of the arms 8 other than to seat the rivets or screws 11 and 13 to secure their attachment in place.

The attachment above described is adapted for an extended range of usefulness-that is to say, as pointed out it is constructed to adapt it for attachment to Whifiletrees of diflterent shapes and cross-sections.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that although the improvements herein defined are simple in construction they Will be thoroughly efficient in use for the purposes designed and may be manufactured and applied to a Whiflietree Without any objectionable cost.

In case the ordinary trace at- Having thus described the invention, What is claimed is A horse-detacher comprising a plate provided on one side with a pairot' guides and one end With a reduced approximately L-shaped abutment arranged in alinement with one of the guides, a spring-pressed bolt mounted in the guides and coacting with the abutment to form a trace-retainer, a curved orificed arm projecting from the side of one end of the plate, and a pair of spaced curved orificed arms projecting from the same side of the other end of the plate.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

HENRY H. REED.

Witnesses:

B. FRANK 'oLF, GEO. B. HERRING. 

